Hey all, 12-team roto league with deep rosters. I have a couple extra closers, and a first-year manager who only has one expressed interest in acquiring another from me. At first I offered Frank Francisco and Jason Hammel for his Cory Luebke, a lowball offer to start negotiations. I was expecting a counter-offer more balanced towards him, but instead I get this:

I tried to be at least a little honorable, and made a counter-offer subbing my Andrew McCutchen instead of Infante, but he wasn't interested in Cutch. I guess my question is, should I take this offer? His OF is stacked (J. Upton, Granderson, Cruz, Pence, J. Bruce, his 2nd-6th round draft picks) and he's looking to cut down on batter Ks while improving his poor infield; he's disappointed with Upton so far this season and doesn't see Cutch as much of an upgrade. In fact, he sent me a pretty extensive reasoning about why he wanted Infante over McCutchen. To be totally honest, I doubt enough managers pay attention in my league for this to get vetoed, so it would probably go though. Should I feel scummy for pulling this off? Or am I beating myself up too much? He's dealing from a position of strength for a position of need, I'm just worried he's being too short-sighted.

This could go a couple of ways. First as you said he could be trying to shore up a weakeness by trading away from a strength. Heck I've even done it a couple of times, though more towards the trade deadline to shore up for the playoff push. Things like trading a frontline starter for a reliever if in need of saves, or something along those lines.

The other way? If he is really a newbie, he may not understand the game as much as seasoned vets do. Might not be looking at the right stats or keeping the most open mind about things. If he's a newbie, he'll learn from the mistake.

Either way, you tried to make a legit trade and it's not terribly lopsided as it stands now. I'd go ahead with it and don't sweat it.

Sorry, but that's a seriously lopsided swap. It should get vetoed, but even if it doesn't, there could be fallout if you pull the trigger. Consider whether the trade is worth having your fellow owners potentially decline to deal with you.